ITC and Blönduós
Blönduós is situated on the northwest of Iceland, a small town with most of its industry based on agriculture and tourism. It has a past steeped in fishing history.
The Icelandic Textile Centre is based on the north of the Blanda River on the outskirts of the town. It is a renowned centre which promotes and celebrates textiles in all ways. The centre houses a weaving studio, sewing rooms, a dye studio, a spinning studio and administrative offices. With a small staff, the centre provides accommodation in the main building, which was once a girls boarding school, and other accommodation in two cottages linked to the centre. ITC also has a design lab which is located 100 metres away from the main building. Blönduós is also home to Iceland’s only wool washery.
I arrived on 1st September and met with two of the artists, Lyn and Deborah, we got on well and chatted all things textiles!
Dyeing yarn and water colour painting
I settled into my stay by dyeing some of lambswool which I had brought over from the UK. For dyes I used Icelandic plant material:
· birch leaves, sustainably collected from the south of Iceland;
· lupin leaves and stems collected locally from Blönduós;
· lava moss collected from the east of the Iceland.
The results were rewarding, varying shades of yellow, which I intend to blend into my woven pieces. I learnt that the volcanic rocks affect the water here and dyeing results can vary greatly from those in the UK.
I painted a few watercolours using photographs from my tour around the island. I will use these paintings and photos as inspiration for my weaving.
Residency Textile Artists
Other textile artists arrived during the week and included:
Deborah Kruger from Mexico working on recycled plastic art
Lyn Fabio working on sewn art
Emma Goransson from Sweden working on a traditional weighted loom.
Steinunn Stetansdottir from Iceland working on a 4 shaft floor loom using traditional Icelandic wool.
Kristi Poole-Adler from Canada working on the TC2 digital loom
Tiphanie Girault from Nova Scotia working on braided woven art.
Maria Westmar from Sweden working in the dye studio
Ann Marie Patrick from Canada working on hand dyed fabrics with embrodiery and quilting
Warping and setting up the Counter-Marche Loom
I decided to work on the Glimarka, Swedish built, 8 shaft loom. This loom would give me the best opportunity to work in block weave patterns (requiring 8 shafts) and still allow me to use plain weave, due to the 10 available treddles.
The loom was completely new to me and I recognised that this would be a challenge. The counter-marche has rising and falling shafts which are operated by upper and lower lams. I had not set up (dressed the loom) in this way before, as my jack loom does not have lams.
Warping
Before weaving it is necessary to create a warp separate to the loom. I decided to make a small warp to start with, as this would allow me to create some sample weaves and get used to the loom before embarking on a bigger piece.
I created the warp by using the large warping mill. This was new to me. It took a little working out but I soon got the hang of it.
· I measured a 120 inch warp and set a guide yarn around the mill.
· Then I followed the guide yarn around the mill 224 times to make my 12 inch wide warp (sett at 20 epi).
· The weavers cross was made on each turn around the mill, as well as a counting cross just for extra security!
Dressing the loom
Now started the long task of dressing the loom.
· I put the warp onto the loom in the way I use at home. I had some problems with the raddle, which divides the threads. Later Ragga, the weaving guru who calls by occasionally, let me know there were clamps to help with the raddle.
· I spent two days tying up the lams and treddles into the block weave pattern that I intended to weave. Countermarche looms have both rising and sinking treadles, so I needed to attach rising treadles to the rising harnesses and sinking treadles to the sinking harnesses I was very careful and consistent, as this part of the dressing process was new to me..
· Once the tie up was complete I was able to thread the Texsolv heddles and then thread the reed to 20 epi.
· Finally I tied the threads to the front apron and tentatively started to weave. I was happy that there was just one small error, which I managed to solve. Also, the treddles were of an appropriate height, as Ragga had advised me to lower them.
Weaving on the Countermarche Loom
I am really enjoying working on the countermarched loom. The size of the loom is somewhat intimidating but once I got to know all the set up and threading I felt confident about operating the loom.
The weaving is a pleasure. The reed is held in a large frame which swings from the mainframe. The soft swing of the reed, the click clack of the treddles under my feet and the beautiful seascape outside the window have made weaving so enjoyable. I look forward to more weaving and learning next week.
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